Transcript

Take your Bibles and let’s go to Luke 23, beginning in verse 33. Jesus has come to the place of crucifixion and that’s where we pick up the narrative. Luke 23:33 going through verse 49.

33 When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. 34 But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves. 35 And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were sneering at Him, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One.” 36 The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him, offering Him sour wine, 37 and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!” 38 Now there was also an inscription above Him, “This is the King of the Jews.” 39 One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” 40 But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” 43 And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” 44 It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, 45 because the sun was obscured; and the veil of the temple was torn in two. 46 And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Having said this, He breathed His last. 47 Now when the centurion saw what had happened, he began praising God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent.” 48 And all the crowds who came together for this spectacle, when they observed what had happened, began to return, beating their breasts. 49 And all His acquaintances and the women who accompanied Him from Galilee were standing at a distance, seeing these things.

I’ve entitled this exposition “Jesus, Lord of the Cross.” Verse 46 is a key to unlock the door of the great truth of the crucifixion. The one primary foundational truth is revealed there and if you miss it, I believe you miss practically everything. To miss the truth of verse 46 concerning the crucifixion is not just to make a mistake, it’s to forfeit practically everything that matters. What does verse 46 tell us? That Jesus wasn’t killed by the cross, Jesus gave up his life voluntarily. “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit,” he said, illustrating that even in the cross like everything else that Jesus faced and everything else that exists, Jesus is Lord. He was Lord of the cross event; he was Lord of the cross experience. The cross did not take his life, he just yielded his life back to his Father. He does not become overpowered by the cold power of nature and die. He’s not in the truest sense a victim. On the cross he indeed is a victor. In his own timing, by his own will, he gives himself not to the power and authority of death but he gives himself back to the Father. He yields himself into his Father’s protection and his Father’s power. The cross did not kill him, quite the contrary, he is Lord of the cross.

Let’s be reminded of what he said in John 10:17-18, “For this reason the Father loves Me,” here it is, “because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.” No man takes my life from me. I lay my life down and I will raise it up again. Oh, the powerful, almighty Jesus Christ.

Continuing by way of introduction, by the way, our introduction will be quite lengthy but the outline will go fast. Verse 33 says, “They came to the place.” It’s a place outside of the city as Numbers 15 prophesied that the Messiah would be crucified outside the city. Tradition held that as a convicted one was held or rather brought to this place of execution, that a Roman Centurion would lead the way on horseback, a herald would go before these condemned criminals and be heralding their offense before everyone and we’re reminded that only the most infamous criminals were ever crucified. A Roman would not dare be crucified, it was too gruesome, too brutal for a Roman citizen; they were above that. Each criminal was always scourged first. We know the text bears that out about Christ. Then he was required to carry his own cross which Jesus began to do but he was too weakened and Simon was commissioned to carry that part of the cross for him. As the criminal went to the Place of the Skull outside the city, a placard would be hanging around his neck stating his crime. Verse 33 simply says, “When they came to the place called The Skull,” the Latin uses the word Calvary; the Greek is Golgotha but it’s interesting it’s not a hill as far as we know. No Gospel writer mentions a hill, just the place. It could be a little knoll but we popularize that in our poems and in our songs.

Typically they nailed your hands and your feet. Some type of support was customarily put under the legs or the feet so that you didn’t die quickly. Most crucified victims spent three or four days on the cross, eventually dying of exhaustion. What a moment this is that divides all of history as Jesus was crucified. For 4,000 years, man had lived under the lash of the law with only a faint hope of redemption and then at the set time, the strong Centurion raised his iron hammer and it came down on the spike that tore through Jesus’ flesh and in the powerful muted ring of that spike hammering through flesh and wood, redemption rang out after 4,000 years of silence. The Roman soldier could not possibly know the significance of his actions. He was following orders; probably didn’t know it, but he was executing an innocent man. But while he was executing an innocent man, God the Father was exonerating a guilty world. With every crash of the hammer to the nail, there rang out redemption’s song of victory penetrating the far reaches of heaven and down to the center depths of the earth.

He was crucified with criminals. Him and the criminals arrive at the place. The Lord of glory now crucified, hanging between criminals, even murderers, which is, again, the climax of shame. Then verse 34, we have the first of what the Bible records as seven sayings from the cross. Verse 34, “But Jesus was saying, ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.'” This prayer, “Father, forgive them,” probably was uttered while they were nailing the nails through his hands and his feet. Here we see Jesus’ high priestly ministry as he prays, “Father, forgive them,” in full authority still as the Son of God. Note friends: Jesus was never out of control. Every part of this shows his dominion. While nailing to the cross, he’s perfectly free. He exercises his will. His will is to die for the children but to intercede for sinners, “Father, forgive them.” This was more than a hopeful request but he prays in full assurance as he held the office as the one and only true High Priest of God. His whole life was a life that expressed love and his death is no different.

Jesus prays but he prays not for himself. He certainly does not pray for his own forgiveness, he needed no forgiveness. He was sinless. But even in his agonies, he finds time to pray for his murderers. He prays during the crucifixion. He prays to God the Father. He prays for others. He prays for his enemies and that ought to tell us something, friend, there is hope for everyone. I don’t care how deep, how corrupt, how vile, how fallen they may feel, because of Jesus there’s hope for everyone. He gives us a word of application here and that is probably the best thing you’ll ever pray for anybody is that they will find forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ as he prays in his final hours, “Father, forgive them.”

The Bible says in verse 34, they cast lots among themselves to divide up his garments, another statement to the absolute blind depravity of men’s fallen hearts. Can you imagine the scene? The sinless Son of God hangs on a cross atoning for the sin of the world, a few feet under his very feet, hardened soldiers are gambling for his clothing. The last indignity he suffered was to be crucified naked.

Verse 35 and 36 now, we see the mockery of the wicked, “the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were sneering at Him, saying, ‘He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One.’ The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him, offering Him sour wine.” You know, the mockery of the wicked against the truth is the deepest of ungodliness. I’m just, again in our world that you and I live in today, it’s a little shocking to me. I’m 56 but it’s a little shocking at how quickly our world has cast away a Christian consensus and a Christian worldview to abandon it radically to adopt a humanistic and secular view with no absolutes and the scoffing of the wicked against those of us who would hold to biblical moral absolutes. That’s the way they mocked and scoff at Jesus. Christ hangs dying in love and they stand blaspheming him. The Jews mocked his claim to be the Messiah. The Romans mainly mocked his claim to be a King. First, they decreed him not to be the Christ so he must die. Now they say, “If he dies, he’s not the Christ.” The point is they don’t want to argue honestly and discuss points, they just want their way and they want him out of the way. The text says they give him sour wine. The sour wine was so that it might mute some of the pain but the Bible text tells us that the Lord refused the wine. He would have no numbness to his being. He would drink the bitter cup of suffering down to the very last dreg.

Verse 37, “and saying, ‘If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!'” It’s as if at this time it’s just building momentum, the rulers, the people, the soldiers now joining in. But we know he would not save himself because he would save others and he can save others because he would not save himself.

Verse 38, “Now there was also an inscription above Him, ‘This is the King of the Jews.'” Pilate had this placed there. It was nailed to the top of the cross. Of course, it was common for the criminal to have his offense put over his head but Pilate did a little play on it this time. He wanted to do something that would mock the Jews and jab at the Jewish religious authorities, “Here’s your King,” because they always had a back-and- forth, Pilate the governor of the region, the Roman governor of the region and the Jewish religious authorities. But isn’t it interesting in divine providence it was Rome that proclaims Jesus as King? They didn’t know what they were saying, did they?

Verse 39, “One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, ‘Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!'” That’s very interesting to me, this man is dying on a cross and he starts ridiculing Jesus, again, showing the hardness of the heart. It needs to remind us – are you listening to your pastor this morning – suffering and cruelty and hardship does not convert the soul, the Spirit does. Sometimes God works in times of suffering and cruelty and hardness but it is the truth and the Spirit of God that saves men’s souls. This criminal hanging there in about as desperate a place as you could possibly be, still hardened and mocking of Jesus. The fire that softens the gold only hardens the clay. In the fire, the righteous are humbled and their dross is consumed but that’s not true of the wicked.

So here we have this narrative text that shows the cruelty and the viciousness of Jesus’ death on the cross. Death by hanging on a cross was beyond description. You see, the cross had only known victims. The cross in this day had no challengers. The cross had no rivals. The cross knew only victory and only conquest. The cross took control, full control over all of its subjects. No one had ever gone to the cross and lived to tell about it. It was the design of Jesus’ enemies to use the cruel Roman cross to bring him to an end. They wanted to use the cross to brutalize him, to shame him, to punish him, to kill him. To be rid of him once and for all. To them, the cross was the invaluable executioner. Their plan had worked. Jesus was going to the cross and they knew none had ever been nailed to a cross and survived. Pain was its banner and death was its product. No one, absolutely no one survived the cross, no one except this one, the King immortal, God’s chosen one, the one blessed of the Father. This one faced the cross, this one embraced the cross, this one walked through its threats and its torments and was not conquered but himself did conquer. Jesus went to the cross and he brought the cross into submission. He not only conquered the cross as a foe but he transformed the cross to become his friend. He transformed the nature of the cross from a curse to become his faithful servant, his helper, if you will. The cross to Jesus became his ministry assistant, his ambassador for his cause. Do you know why? Because Jesus is Lord of all and he’s Lord of the cross. He’s not a victim, he’s a victor. God is in charge here. God is doing something.

Let’s talk about it for a moment. I. The cross became his servant, his ministry assistant, if you will, because it became the means of his children’s justification and glorification. Look at verse 40 as we see what Jesus accomplishes through this cross event. This is the other criminal on the other side of him. We’ve talked about the one mocking Jesus and hurling abuse at him but verse 40 says, “the other answered, and rebuking him said, ‘Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?'” The other criminal on the other side, a crucified murderer, becomes something of a Gospel preacher. He’s heralding out to his fellow on the other side, his fellow criminal, “Don’t you see what’s going on? Do you care?” He’s appealing to him. In the fog of mockery like the blackest hell, a lightning flash of faith and truth breaks forth. A little small glimmer of true faith in the blackness of darkness of vile, hateful unbelief.

It reminds us, friend – are you listening to your pastor this morning – God will always have a remnant. It doesn’t matter the state of the church or the state of Christianity or the state of the nation, there will always be a remnant that truly loves and honors Christ in every situation. He’ll always have one. God will always have a remnant. Faith in Christ will not disappear from the earth. Even in a setting like the cross event where Christ ordained apostles and so many of his formerly devoted disciples fall back, God if need be will call forth a repentant murderer to proclaim his grace. Don’t you love God? Nobody else would have thought this up but God.

I believe this criminal gives good evidence of true saving faith. He confesses his own guilt. He said, calling out to the thief, “We’re guilty of what we’re into.” He testifies of the innocence of Jesus. He turns to Jesus, the Savior, to save him. He prays to Jesus. He pleads for mercy. What else is he going to plead to? He’s hanging there. He can do nothing. He’s concerned about the salvation of fellow sinners. He pleads to his fellow criminal, “Man, you need to change your attitude.” This reminds us of the sovereignty of the Spirit’s work. One criminal converted, the other hardened and hurling abuse until his death and he goes to hell. 1 Corinthians 12 reminds us, “no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.” It is the Spirit of God that has to arrest the heart of men and turn their hearts to Christ. We are hopeless apart from the power of the Spirit.

Well, Jesus says to this man in verse 43, first of all, he asks Jesus, of course, in verse 42, “remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” He doesn’t understand theology that well, a lot of people didn’t, but he knew that the Messiah of the Jews was establishing a kingdom one day. He says, “Well, will you remember me when you come into your kingdom?” Jesus, verse 43 says, “I’ll do better than that.” Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” This illustrates Jesus’ priestly ministry that he established in his death, “I can arrange for you. I can be the Mediator, the Priest and go before God. I can get you into Paradise today. You’ve got a free ticket with me.” And also it represents his kingly office in that he is the King of Paradise. He’s the King of glory. He’s the King of heaven. He has the authority to bring in anybody he wants to. In Psalm 77:6, the Psalmist speaks of remembering his song in the night. It’s kind of the picture in a long, dark, difficult night there is just a little song that brings a brightness and I believe when this criminal cries out to Jesus in true faith in this black, dark moment, it brought a song in the night to the heart of Jesus. “This is what it’s all about. This is why I’m dying. This is what me and the Father are purposing to do.”

Jesus gives him a real strong assurance in verse 43, he says, “Truly I say to you,” truly, “today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” It means he indeed can grant what he promises. Listen to me: no one ever cries out to Jesus in vain. To this repenting criminal, Jesus says in effect, “Mercy is granted to you. I will take you as my own. Your eternal future is secure and your prayer is immediately answered.” Now, this story of justification, immediately becoming just before God, that’s the doctrine of justification. Justification doesn’t mean you do anything, justification means you are counted as something even though in your own self you’re not anything. Justification means God counts you now as righteous. In the moment, this criminal cried out to Jesus, God the Father accounted unto him righteousness. Justification. That’s the doctrine of justification.

Then Jesus adds onto that glorification. He just got justified and Jesus said, “In just a couple three more hours, you and I also are going to be glorified.” That’s the doctrine of glorification. “We’re going to Paradise together.” This teaches us, once again, that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, for the glory of God alone. He said, “Would you just remember me when that kingdom is set up one day?” Jesus said, “Well, I’ll do better than that, what about you and I just going to Paradise today?” I’m not so sure if Jesus came down and said, “How about going onto Paradise today?” I wouldn’t be the first to sign up. Romans 4:25 says, “He was delivered over,” that’s the cross. “He was delivered over because of our transgressions. He was raised because of our justification.” In being delivered over, he has the merit before the Father to count us as righteous ones. And in Romans 5:18, “So then as through one transgression,” that’s our father, Adam, and he passed down our defilement and our guilt and our lack of justification to all of his descendants. “So then through the one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness,” that’s Jesus dying on the cross for us, “there resulted justification of life to all men.” This settles forever the question of what saves men and it settles forever the question also of what happens when one dies. At the moment of death, one is instantly in the glories and the blessings of heaven and with Christ. The Apostle Paul said very clearly, “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” He told this criminal, “This day you have believed on me. Today we’re going to Paradise.” What a scene at the cross. The cross is God’s judgment seat where sinners’ sins are placed on Jesus and those sins are effectually, which means fully, fully accomplished, effectually atoned for. But it’s also a throne of grace where a condemned murderer can find full and free forgiveness and instantly become a child of the King. Just a few hours after his glorious conversion, that thief had dying there on the cross, he departs to be with Christ and when we have a dear loved one who knew Christ as Lord and Savior and they pass this earth, we no longer start weeping for the dead and they are already rejoicing in heaven.

Verse 44 tells us that, “now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour.” That’s Jesus crucified about 9 a.m. It became dark around 12 noon. Verse 45, “because the sun was obscured.” There’s darkness. The sun failed literally is what the text says. The sun failed. We don’t know exactly what that means but it’s as if all of nature was mourning for her Son and for her Lord. When a king would die in this day, the whole empire would be brought into mourning but Jesus is the King of kings so God the Father said, “We’re going to put the whole world into mourning.” Isn’t it interesting that when Jesus was born the angels appear and lit up the dark night like the daytime. At his birth, the nighttime became daytime; at his death, the daytime is turned to nighttime.

Why the darkness? I’ve always believed though the Bible does not give us commentary on that specifically but this is when God the Father and God the Son were about the work of man’s redemption. Listen to me: redemption is God’s work and God’s work alone. We have no part in it. God cast a veil of darkness over the event and it was unspeakably solemn event. Oh, the wonders of crucifixion. No one knows how dark the night or how deep the waters crossed, ere he found his sheep that were lost. And by the way, when he went into the darkness of redemption’s work, he found and redeemed every one of his sheep. Every single one of them. Jesus never fails at what he sets out to do. He accomplishes what he sets out to perform.

Then verse 45 says the darkness falls, “and the veil of the temple was torn in two.” Now, the veil is the veil between the outer court of the holy place and separating it from the Holy of Holies where God’s presence would dwell. That’s where the Ark of the Covenant was and the cherubim were and the mercy seat was and so they kept that covered with a seven inch thick woven veil, a heavy, heavy, heavy curtain. It was connected at the corners so when it was torn in the midst, which is what the text says, immediately it would just fall wide open providing a gaping hole into the presence of God which is what Christ did for us. Dying on the cross, he provides our justification, assures our glorification. He rips back all the veil of works and religion and ordinances and sacraments and sacrifices and all the schemes and all the devices and all the systems of man, all that is ripped apart and he says, “Come to me through the veil of my Son, Jesus Christ.” It is ripped open. Somebody said it made a wide gaping hole because we’re big sinners.

Then in verse 46, “Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Once again, he’s not subject to the blind power of nature and dying. He dies in his own will. He dies in his own timing. This is not a death cry and struggle but this is a majestic word of divine authority. He’s in full control here. This didn’t sneak up on him and he’s not doing the best he can with a bad situation. He is in control. He’s Lord of the cross and at the time when he ordained, not Satan, not the world, not the Romans, not the Jews, not even the frailty of human flesh, he chose, “Now is the time the Father has ordained I will commit Myself back to You now.” A majestic word of divine authority. He yields himself to his Father’s protection and to his Father’s plan. Jesus was loyal and committed to his Father in all points of life and now up to the very point of death and like his birth, his death is a one-of-a-kind experience.

No other was born as he was born and no other died as he died. He came from the Father, now he is returning back to the Father as verse 46 says, “He breathed His last.” It’s interesting, no Gospel writer says he died. He breathed his last because in a sense he dies but in a very real sense – listen to me – God can’t die. He left the human realm, you might say, but he didn’t die. And isn’t it interesting once we know Christ, the Bible doesn’t say we die. The Bible says our bodies fall asleep, our souls go to be with the Lord. He has just turned everything right side up. He fixed all the problem about death and eternal life.

Now, II. we’ll be quicker here. The cross is his servant; the cross is his ministry assistant, if you will, and that it became the means of him bringing justification and glorification to his children as seen in primarily the criminal who is converted on the cross. Secondly, II. it’s central to his message to build his kingdom. His message is the preaching of the cross. In verse 47, if you will, “Now when the centurion saw what had happened, he began praising God, saying, ‘Certainly this man was innocent.'” What did the Centurion see? He saw the cross. He saw Jesus hanging there. He saw and heard Jesus saying, “Father, forgive them,” as they drove the nails through his hands and through his feet. He saw and heard Jesus talking to the criminal. He saw and heard as the soldiers and the Jewish religious authorities and the common men hurled mockings and abuse at Jesus. He saw Jesus promise the criminal, “Today you’ll be with me in Paradise.” He heard Jesus as he cried out, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” And in taking in those several hours, the Centurions were required to be there the whole time, and taking all that in, this Centurion, the Bible says, begins to praise God. This is an outward, vocal, loud, enthusiastic proclaiming of Christ. This is evangelism. That’s what it is. He’s just rejoicing over what has happened to him and telling others about it. When you get to heaven, there’s a Roman Centurion that walks up and says, “I was the guy at the cross,” don’t say, “Fancy meeting you here.” That man is saved. He has been changed.

In John 10:16, Jesus said, “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.” Now, what does he mean, “I have other sheep which are not of this fold”? I have Jewish sheep, that’s this fold, but I’ve got others who are not of the Jewish fold. Isn’t it interesting that the first convert after the cross is not a Jewish religious leader, it wasn’t a Jew, wasn’t a Jewish man, wasn’t a Jewish boy, wasn’t a Jewish anything, it was a Gentile Roman soldier. The first convert after the cross. A couple of hours earlier, this Centurion was probably totally disinterested and probably one of the ones who was gambling at the feet of Jesus, bartering for his clothing and now he becomes something of an evangelist.

Look at verse 48, “And all the crowds who came together for this spectacle, when they observed what had happened, began to return, beating their breasts.” That’s a statement of conviction. That’s what they would do when they were troubled about their own soul and the state of their being before God, “O, woe is me!” In other words, the cross event had an evangelistic flame to it. The Centurion is converted, these others are convicted; in their hearts after they had seen what they had seen, the mockings and the railings and the revilings are gone. They leave Calvary self-condemned. After all they had witnessed, the proud Pharisees found no rest on their beds that awful night. And this is what God does, he’ll often bring seasons of conviction. Do you see what God is doing? This is a season of conviction. Who knows how many people in some form or fashion were pricked in their conscience, a conviction of the Spirit of God. They’re sensing something is wrong here. Something is right about him. Something is wrong about us. And then the Spirit of God falls on the day of Pentecost and Peter begins to proclaim the Gospel and thousands and thousands and thousands are converted. It started right here. The cross event is the central foundational message of evangelism.

It’s the message of evangelism. That’s why Paul when he wrote to the Corinthians, the Corinthians were so full of themselves, they considered themselves the intelligentsia elite of the day, they were schooled on the philosophies and the learned things of the day and they thought, “Paul, your message is too simple.” Well, Paul was a very brilliant and well educated man but he said, “Yes, and when I was among you Corinthians, I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” Why? Because that’s the message that saves. Jesus turns this horrible event, at least from a human perspective, and takes the cross the makes it his ministry associate. “You’re now my friend to help me proclaim the saving Gospel and to build my kingdom.” III. Jesus transformed the cross into his servant, his ministrial assistant by making it the foundation or making it foundational to understand Christian discipleship.

Look at verse 49. Now this is a different group of people in verse 49, “And all His acquaintances and the women who accompanied Him from Galilee,” these were, no doubt, many true disciples but very immature and very afraid right now, “were standing at a distance, seeing these things.” You see, they are being discipled. They are learning something about discipleship. Standing at a distance, they watched their Savior.

Let me say something about the women here. Isn’t it interesting that the text points out “and the women”? Now, it’s important to get a balance here because I’ve warned you regularly that the Bible teaches women are more prone than men to follow their emotions and be led to this fad and this gimmick and this false teacher and that false teacher. They just are, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be a great army of godly, mature, faithful women who stay strong when even the men fall away. I think that’s what this means. A disproportionate number of those who are trying to stay loyal to Christ amidst the difficulty and the fear are godly women who stayed loyal to the truth.

But as these godly women and the others who were Christ’s disciples watched this from a distance, there is something they’re learning about Christian discipleship. First of all, watching Jesus go to the cross, they learned this, 1: you always obey the Father. You always obey the Father. Jesus obeyed his Father all the way to the cross. 2. You live for another world. We enjoy this world, nothing wrong with that, there are common graces we can enjoy but we joy and praise God for them but ultimately our heart is not here. They learned that watching Jesus. He could go to the cross because he lived for another, and I might remind you, infinitely better, superior, more pleasurable and more glorious world. We always obey the Father, we live for another world, that’s what Jesus was illustrating on the cross and, thirdly, expect shame, possibly suffering and persecution to honor Christ in this world. Jesus went through the ultimate of shame and suffering to do what was right and we may be called upon and indeed in some form or fashion will be called upon, because Jesus said in Christian discipleship it’s like this, Matthew 16:24, “”If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” The cross is foundational to understanding Christian discipleship.

IV, and we’re done: the cross became his friend, his servant, because he is Lord of the cross and that it became the means of his glorious eternal prosperity. He told the criminal there on the cross who believed in him, “Today you’re going to be with me in Paradise. I have a Paradise future ahead of me.” Paradise speaks of a place of glory, a place that is a glorious kingdom, and Jesus is returning to his Father but he returns to his Father like the Roman generals of old returned after their conquest of other kingdoms. The old Roman generals would always bring the spoils back with them and they would parade the other generals and the kings of the lands they conquered before the Caesar and all the Roman people in what they would call a triumphal entry. Well, that’s what Jesus did when he went home. He went to the cross as Lord of the cross, used the cross as the singular event to win for him the spoils of all of his victory.

Isaiah 53:10 is a great way to conclude this. In Isaiah 53:10, the Bible prophesies of what Jesus would do. “But the LORD was pleased To crush Him,” that’s the cross, “putting Him to grief,” that’s the cross, “If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,” that’s what he did at the cross, he became our guilt, offered in our place before God. Now, because of the cross, “He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days.” Let’s deal with the second one first of all, “He’ll prolong His days,” in other words, he has an eternal prosperity coming because of the cross and, by the way, he takes us with him on that eternal prosperity adventure. We go with him. Secondly, not only an eternal prosperity or eternal kingdom, but it is a prosperous kingdom. It’s superior, better, more wonderful in every single possible way all because of the cross. They cried, they wept, they mourned, “What a victim! How horrible!” when all the while Jesus, Lord of the cross, was using the cross for his own eternal prosperity. He knew what he was doing. He was always in full control.

Jesus embraced the cross. He embraced its shame and its suffering because it served his purpose and his fame. Hebrews 2:7 reminds us because of his willing humiliation at the cross, the Father “crowned Him with glory and honor.” And Philippians 2:9 reminds us, due to his willingness to die on the cross, the Father has “highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him a name which is above every name.” Be reminded, friend, Jesus is Lord. He is Lord of the plant kingdom. He is Lord of the animal kingdom. He is Lord of the universe. He is Lord of heaven. He is Lord of earth. He is Lord of the angels and all spirit beings. He is Lord of man. He is Lord of all. And Jesus is Lord of the cross. It served him perfectly. Praise his name. May you leave this Sunday morning a little more in awe of the beauty, the wisdom and the power of Jesus Christ.

Let’s stand together in prayer.